


Asexual Awareness Week Fandom Challenge 2018

by shirasade



Category: Sense8 (TV), Shadowhunters (TV), The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Asexual Awareness Week, Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Asexuality Spectrum, Demisexuality, Drabble, F/M, Gen, Gifset, Meta, Multi, Polyamory, Queerplatonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-06 23:48:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16397393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shirasade/pseuds/shirasade
Summary: My contributions to#AAWFC 2018- graphics, drabbles and short bits of headcanons/meta.





	1. Day 1: Raphael Santiago & Isabelle Lightwood (Shadowhunters)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunday October 21st: Post about canonically asexual spectrum characters, and/or what you would like to see in future asexual representation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gif set + meta.

  
  
  
  
  


Raphael Santiago from Shadowhunters is the canonically asexual character that immediately springs to mind for me. 

  
  
  


Say what you will about how his relationship with Izzy started, but I love that it happened. It also showed that asexuality is a spectrum - Raphael isn’t aromantic (at least that’s how I interpreted his feelings for Izzy), he just happens not to be interested in sex, and Izzy (who until then had been portrayed as a very sexual person) accepted this, didn’t try to “fix” him. They didn’t work out, but it had nothing whatsoever to do with Raphael’s asexuality.


	2. Day 2: A Good Catholic Boy (Raphael Santiago, Shadowhunters)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monday, October 22nd: For canonical or headcanoned asexual spectrum characters, what relationship do they have with their identity? Are they out and proud? How did they discover their identity?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 200 word drabble of Raphael backstory/headcanon.

Raphael Santiago was a good Catholic boy. Everybody in their village in Zacatecas knew that, and mothers never worried for their daughters when Raphael was around. Raphael himself never quite understood why the other boys shot him sidelong glances and called him a sly dog. After they moved to New York, he was aware that his friends went with girls sometimes, although never with the “good” girls from church, and that people seemed to think that was natural, expected, as long as they didn’t get them into trouble.

The only trouble Raphael was interested in was the rumor about a blood-sucking fiend. Boys that usually called him a mama’s boy looked at him with respect after he showed up with a knife and his mother’s gold cross and led them to the Hotel Dumort. Respect turned into fear when Raphael, newly turned and crazed with hunger, killed first his sire and then most of his friends.

In the decades that followed, as he came to terms with his new life, some people thought his celibacy was part of his atonement for his guilt. Raphael usually didn’t bother disabusing them of that notion - until he fell in love with Isabelle Lightwood.


	3. Day 3: Daniela Velazquez (Sense8)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tuesday October 23rd: Post about characters that you headcanon as asexual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meta/headcanon.

Right until the very end of the very last episode I really thought Daniela from Sense8 was asexual. Not sex-repulsed, obviously, because she was turned on by Lito and Hernando - but without wanting to be an active participant. Once she began to really care about the boys, we got to see under her annoying, superficial facade, and I really related to her.

As far as I was concerned, Dani became a part of Lito and Hernando’s relationship - tender and intimate and full of love - without having sex with them. I headcanoned that she’d used her sexuality like a tool for years, her most useful weapon against the men that kept wanting to own her. And then there was this gay couple, who took her in without making demands on her body and with whom she got to live her passion and sensuality in a way she’d never before been able to.

It was beautiful, and I related to Dani’s sexuality (the way I’d headcanoned it) very much - which is why that last glimpse we get of her in the Sense8 finale (in bed with Lito and Hernando, an active participant in a threeway sex scene) caught me by complete surprise. I usually try to incorporate canon as far as possible, but I’ve grown so attached to my ace version of Dani, I am tempted to ignore that this happened.

For me, Lito, Hernando and Dani remain a poly triad between two gay men and a male-attracted asexual woman.


	4. Day 4: Home (Daniela Velazquez, Sense8)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wednesday October 24th: For canonical or headcanoned asexual spectrum characters, how does their identity affect their life and relationships?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gif set + drabble.

  
  
  


Dani’s relationships before Lito and Hernando had always been based on material things - and that included her body, as far as she was concerned. Even her parents were no exception; the only compliments she ever got from them were related to her looks. Looking back, she feels horrible for the way she treated Lito, harassing him in pretty much the same way men had always treated her, like a slab of meat, a status symbol. Now, she knows what love is supposed to feel like - like Hernando’s hand in hers, Lito’s body between her and Joaquin. Like _home_.


	5. Day 5: Alec Lightwood (Shadowhunters)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thursday October 25th: Post about characters that you headcanon as demisexual or grey-asexual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gif set + meta.

  
Alec Lightwood is a character I can easily see as demisexual (and homoromantic). On Shadowhunters we meet him when he’s in his early 20s, having been in love with his best friend/parabatai at least since his mid-teens - yet while for many people that wouldn’t have stopped them from exploring their sexuality, Alec doesn’t show any signs that remaining celibate was difficult for him.

  
  
  
  


He comes out rather spectacularly - what is likely his first kiss is a grand gesture rather than an expression of sexual desire, and even after he’s allowed himself to become more emotionally open, sex isn’t the first thing on his mind. Instead, he slowly starts his very first romantic relationship, and in the end he still needs reassurance from his sister (a very sexual person) before he begins exploring his sexuality physically.

Magnus, the centuries-old warlock with his 17′000 lovers, might have pushed Alec quite hard at first, but as he gets to know him better, he accepts and even cherishes what gift Alec gives him by allowing him into his heart - and his body. It’s quite lovely to see.


	6. Day 6: The V-Card (Alec Lightwood, Shadowhunters)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friday October 26th: For canonical or headcanoned asexual spectrum characters, how do their other identities interact with their asexual spectrum identity? (i.e. romantic orientation, race, culture, gender, religion, etc.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 400 words of Alec & Simon talking about Alec’s demisexuality (without using the word), with established Malec.

"Dude, were you really a virgin before Magnus?" If looks could kill, Simon would be a very dead vampire. Which would make Izzy sad, although Alec wasn't entirely happy with his sister either, considering she'd likely been the one to tell her boyfriend something that was not anyone's business except Alec's and Magnus's.

Unfortunately Simon was immune to Alec's glares, probably the result of having been glared at all his life for being an annoying shit. Finally, Alec put down his tablet with a heavy sigh. "You're not going to leave, are you?"

"Nope." Shaking his head emphatically, Simon smirked triumphantly. "Because I know what Izzy told me, but really, I always thought the whole sex thing would be easier for you gay guys. And you're not exactly... disgusting to look at."

"Don't flatter me, I might get ideas," Alec shot back drily, but Simon remained undaunted and Alec resigned himself to his fate. "On the one hand, growing up a Shadowhunter I had more important things on my mind, on the other, no one except Iz even knew I was gay--" Alec was struck with how easily he said that word out loud now, when only a couple of years ago he could barely  _think_  it. "--and the Clave isn't the most open-minded society, as you might have noticed. I guess I could have found someone among Downworlders, but honestly, I never understood the appeal."

"Of Downworlders?" Simon inquired cheekily. "Whatever would your boyfriend think..."

Alec rolled his eyes. "Of sex. Hooking up, I think is what mundanes call it. Both Jace and Izzy did their fair share of that." It barely hurt anymore, remembering. "I just never wanted to. Even with Magnus, it took me a while until I got...  _curious_. And that's all I'm going to say on the topic."

Alec crossed his arms and stared down Simon impassively, until the vampire blinked and slunk away, hands raised in capitulation. Allowing himself a satisfied smirk, Alec turned back to his work. It had taken him a long time to stop feeling as if there was something wrong with him, something that made him inadequate as a Shadowhunter, a parabatai, a man. Now he'd found his place, and he was comfortable in his skin, which was more than he'd ever expected.

Setting down the tablet once again, Alec picked up his phone. He had a boyfriend to see.


	7. Day 7: Sam Gamgee & Frodo Baggins (Lord of the Rings)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saturday October 27th: Post about a romantic or queerplatonic/quasiplatonic relationship in fiction that you see as having one or more asexual spectrum partner(s).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gif set + meta to finish off this week. :)

  
  


Frodo and Sam definitely share a deep and beautiful relationship that I love to read as queerplatonic (although of course a romantic reading is valid, too), one that is at the very core of _The Lord of the Rings_.

Sam, the quintessential hobbit and one of my favourite characters, gives up his comfortable life in the Shire without a second thought and follows his Mr. Frodo all the way to Mt. Doom. He’s one of only two ringbearers to not be tempted by the Ring, because his motivations are entirely selfless. There is no doubt that he loves Frodo with all his brave, faithful heart - however, he also gets married and has a family after the War of the Ring is over, something that I believe Frodo would never have been interested in, even if he hadn’t gone off to the Undying Lands. 

In the end, that’s where Sam goes, too, to join Frodo and spend the rest of their lives together.


End file.
